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Nico’s feet touched the ground as he gracefully deposited himself onto a beaten path. Behind him, Will stumbled like a wounded duck and doubled over, a little bit green around the edges. He wasn’t yet used to traveling through shadows with Nico, and it’s possible that his very luminous nature made it worse. Will could be very (stupidly) luminous sometimes.
“Where are we?” He straightened up and took in a deep breath, no doubt taking note of the heavily humid and chilly night air, the scent of herbs and the faint sound of jazz music in the distance.
“A graveyard” Nico responded, as if it wasn’t obvious. He delighted in Will’s eye roll, then elaborated “New Orleans.”
“New Orleans!?” Will’s eyes widened. “We should have brought Austin along! He would love it!”
“I’m not a taxi.” Nico huffed, but he made a conscious mental note to offer Austin Lake a trip to the city of jazz one of these days. Not like he was trying to suck up to Will’s siblings, nothing like that. He was just training to be more social, that’s all. “Besides, I thought this mission was for me?”
“Alright.” Will raised his palms in compliance, jumping up and looking around frantically as a small murder of crows took flight from a nearby branch. A chill so strong Nico could see it ran through his body, despite his puffy jacket. Nico supposed he couldn't be blamed for being creeped out. A silent graveyard in the middle of the night, under a full moon, was not a place most people felt comfortable in. Then again, most people harbored irrational fears of the zombies and ghosts that might spring from behind a gravestone and attack them. Nico figured if that happened he at least could order them to go buy him a snack. He'd forgotten about how famished shadow travel left him these days.
Still, he would be lying if he said he didn’t enjoy the way Will gravitated towards him, practically gripping the sleeve of his jacket as they walked along the path towards a beautiful mausoleum crowned with an obelisk at its entrance. Bad Nico, bad! He chastised himself. Don’t be such a creep.
“This is where you’d meet with your friend?” Will asked, looking up at the spike which marble top glistened in the light of the moon.
“Not really. We would run into each other all around this graveyard, but this is the best place to invoke him.” He looked sideways at Will “Are you sure you want to be here?”
Apparently Will mistook his thoughtful consideration (and Nico prided himself in his progress in that area) for mockery, because he let go of Nico’s sleeve and straightened up, crossing his arms over his chest. Nico had to admit it was a very convincing picture, with the yellow pom-pom on top of his hat and all. “I’m not afraid.” He deadpanned.
“I never said anything about being afraid-”
“And I’m here to support you.”
“I didn’t ask you for that.”
“Bullshit. You will chicken out if I’m not here.”
Nico rolled his eyes and stuck his tongue out in response. Very mature on his part, yes, but what will you do? It was true that he didn’t specifically ask Will to accompany him tonight. But neither had he ever asked Will to become his lifestyle-coach, nutritionist, private doctor or therapist. Yet somehow, Solace had managed, with unyielding persistence, to worm his way into each of those roles in Nico’s life. And because Nico was weak for his smile, he let that happen. As a result, they spent so much time together that when he helped Nico decide on this trip, he automatically included himself in the tag-along.
Nico slung his bag off his shoulder and kneeled in the shadow of the obelisk, taking out a piece of chalk and beginning to draw on the stone.
“That’s not greek.” Will, the ever so genius, noted.
“Nope.”
“It’s not very good art either. Are you trying to draw a cat?”
“It’s a hieroglyph, you dense lute-stroker, and I’m copying it from the internet.” He waved the piece of paper he’d printed in front of Will’s face. His masterpiece, however… did look a lot more like a five-year old’s rendition of a cat, than what was printed on the paper.
“I still can’t believe-” Will let it hang in the air, but Nico knew what he was talking about, the great secret about the world that Nico somehow managed to spill out because Will had that irresistible talent to pinch and piss him off so much that Nico accidentally would let go of all of his deepest, darkest secrets in a tirade so beautifully adorned with profanity that Hazel would deadass wash his mouth with soap if she ever heard.
It had happened several times already and after each of those incidents, Nico felt… great. It was a new one, no be able to get his worries off his chest in a way that wasn’t vulnerable or left him exposed. Even if he ended up crying or shaking, because Will never made him feel like he was being pitied. He would talk to Nico about it, yes. But not shy away from him or look at him as if he was broken. “And what are you going to do about it?” was his usual approach. He was a caretaker, a doctor, his goal was to heal the wounds, not to lament the accident.
Only once had he taken matters in his own hands, because the date was right. He made Nico drag them to Montreal and straight into the pride day parade. “Look around you. This is not the 40’s anymore.” He’d said, looking absolutely ridiculous with confetti in his hair and two giant blue-purple-pink flags painted all across his cheeks.” Nico had learned a lot that day, collected a whole backpack of pamphlets, and almost cried a couple of times, one out of the sheer power of a bunch of epiphanies, and the other when Will bought him a book on the historical evolution of LGBT+ rights. “ You know I’m dyslexic, right? ” He’d asked shuffling through it that night, back at his own cabin. It was one tough brick of a book. Will popped a bubblegum bubble and tossed the wrapper at Nico’s shoulder. “ So I am, and I managed to get through the entire Gray’s Anatomy. No excuses. ”
No excuses indeed. Nothing changed between them since that day at first glance, but at the same time, everything did, at least for Nico. Just because he likes boys doesn’t mean he likes you. He would tell himself in the bad days. In the good ones, when the sun shone just right, the darkness lay dormant, and Will put an arm around his shoulders, laughing at his dry jokes, he was hyper-aware that they were dancing around each other, trying to figure out the footing for something yet unknown.
And two days ago, after he’d helped Will patch up the Capture the Flag casualties, they entered another round of banter. Then Will complained about Nico being a candidate for the most messy bandage cutter in the world. In fact, he should be made a god of crooked scissor-work. And it was good that only the Greco-roman mythology was true, because then he’d need to take up that job in all the other pantheons. “Actually!” Nico had counter-attacked, jumping at the opportunity to look smarter “I’ll have you know that-”
And so here they were now.
Nico finished his drawing and stood up, admiring it from his full height. It still looked more like a Picasso impersonation of a cat than the proper symbol, but the moonlight was moving the shadow of the obelisk away so he needed to hurry.
“Okay, I’ve never done this, but it should work in theory.”
“I’ll catch you if you faint.” Will promised.
Nico inspired deeply and concentrated on the earth under the chalk drawing. He felt the layers of it warp around his reach, felt the riches of the depth and the bones of long-forgotten dead that still held part of their essence. He pictured where that essence went, followed it to a dozen parallel realities, all churning under the surface of the world they shared. It took him more time than he thought to find the right one but when he did he called to his aid all the restless spirits of the graveyard that favored that plane. And he gave them one simple request: Find. Him.
Just as he did so his concentration wavered and he stumbled backward into Will’s waiting arms. “I’m okay.” He hurried up to say, but allowed himself to rest against Will’s chest, not because he was too tired, but because it felt nice.
Nothing happened.
They waited for twenty minutes, sharing a snickers bar that Nico miraculously found in his pocket. Will even refrained from complaining about the unhealthiness of the snack. He would make sure to feed Nico fruit back at camp tho.
“I’m going to try again.” Nico announced, standing up.
“Are you up to it?” Will Nico looked at him with concern.
“Yeah. It’s not that hard if I’m not actually animating anything.”
“Okay, but let me draw this time.”
To Nico’s surprise, Will’s drawing looked identical to the printed figure, and he did it in a matter of seconds. Those show-off Apollo kids…
That time, when Nico concentrated he was surprised by how brightly the hieroglyph burned in one particular plane, like it actually held meaning there. He repeated the request to the spirits that hung out around there and they dispersed.
Nico took a step back, wavering slightly. That second attempt took less energy but it built up on top of the previous exhaustion and if it wasn’t for Will his knees would have given up.
“Thanks.” He patted Will’s hand on his shoulder, but his friend didn’t answer, gasping in surprise instead.
In front of them, a figure materialized out of thin air, as if stepping out from the ground in one stride.
It wasn’t who Nico was expecting to see, however.
The boy that stood in front of him was tall, muscular and dressed like a basketball player gone goth. His skin was chocolate-dark and around his neck hung a collection of golden tinkers. He was also in the process of brushing his teeth.
The guy blinked at them, they stared at him.
“Is this…?” Will started to ask.
“Nope.” Nico sighed. “Wrong summoning.”
The newcomer then spat the paste out of his mouth and grinned from ear to ear. “Nico di Angelo!” He exclaimed cheerfully “Long time no see, kid of Hades!”
“Uh… Anubis?”
“And host.” The supposed Anubis nodded, giving him a thumbs up. “Why did you call me, kiddo? Anything wrong or-?” His eye fell on Nico’s first attempt at the hieroglyph? “Were you trying to summon Bast instead?”
Nico squinted like he needed glasses, but actually he concentrated on the guy, looking deeper under the folds of reality until he found the familiar figure standing within him, surrounded by a grey aura.
“No” He shook his head “You. And… I just wanted to talk about something.”
Anubis nodded, shivered, took one look at the toothbrush in his hand, spat out paste again, and put it back in his mouth. “Holgg oo.”
“What?” Will had time to say before the guy put a hand on both of their shoulders and suddenly the world changed. It was like being pulled from one place and dragged across incorporeal gelatin. Nico blinked it out of his eyes and could still see the world underneath the reality for a few seconds before he willed his vision to ascend.
They stood in the middle of a cozy suite of rooms. It was decorated with sports posters, Egyptian imagery, a whole bunch of artisanal and craft tools, and a giant plushie of a fluffy dog on the bed, among other cluster. It was also well heated, almost too much for Nico’s taste. Or it might have been the unease of being there, like the entire house frowned upon him.
“Welcome to the 21st Nome. Get comfortable”, their host told them diving into the bathroom. He emerged a few seconds later not looking anymore like he missed the rabies shot.
They sat on the terrace, munching on biscuits and hot cocoa. Despite the cold November night and the impressive view of Manhattan that told them they were back in New York, it was just as warm there as inside.
“Um, Mister Anubis?-” Will started.
“You can just call me Walt, if it's less weird for you.” The other interrupted him with an amused smile. “I don’t know who you are tho.”
“I’m Will, a friend of Nico’s.”
Walt… Anubis, whoever, shot Nico a curious look. “You have friends now? That’s new.”
Nico huffed. “You are the one to talk! I thought you’d said you’ve never taken a human host before. Last I knew you’d been house-sitting for a missing Osiris for the past two thousand years. What are you doing living in New York like a king?”
“There were… special circumstances. A lot has changed. Osiris is back, for once. We thwarted the end of the world.”
“Hold on!” Nico put up a hand “ We thwarted the end of the world.” He thought more about it “Twice, since I last saw you.”
“Is that a competition?” Anubis tilted his head, amused. “Well, then my girlfriend also thwarted single-handedly another potential end of the world just a couple weeks ago. To which, I have been uninvited, because apparently Sadie thought I was at risk of being consumed by a rabid Ptolomeic deity. But I don’t think that one counts because one of your kind helped her.”
“Our kind?”
“A girl called Annabeth, Sadie told me, and also yelled at Carter for not telling her about his previous encounter with the gal’s boyfriend.”
“Percy?”
“Ah, yes.”
Nico banged his forehead on the table, making the cocoa tremble in the mug. He turned to look at Will “Why are those two always involved in everything?”
Will put up his hands. “You tell me. You know them better than I do.”
That was true, of course. Thanks to Jason’s newfound Dalai-lama mediative energy, Percy and him had slowly left the awkward zone and developed an excessively honest kind of camaraderie. The we’ve put each other through too much crap for amenities kind of dynamic.
“You look like death today. Did daddy spook you?”
“Thanks and no, the cow that licked your hair did.”
“Ha ha. Seriously, is everything alright?”
“Nah, PSTD sucks.”
“Agh, ditto.”
Annabeth was really nice too. Nico remembered her harsher and more abrasive, but the later events had softened her daily character. She was much kinder and inclusive to Nico as well, something he had not expected, specially after he basically told her boyfriend that he’s had a thing for him for the entire time they were together.
“If she were to be cross with everyone that’s ever had a crush on Jackson, she would be in active warfare with half the camp.” Will had suggested once, sitting cross legged on Nico’s bed, playing UNO. “I did too, for a while, so I get it. But honestly, the amount of kids that’d fallen from the lava wall or made a fool of themselves in the arena trying to impress him! Even one from the Ares cabin!”
“Sorry, that’s unfortunate.”
“Yeah, we should start categorizing Percy Jackson as a cause of injury.”
No, I mean, draw 4.”
Still, he heard nothing about an encounter with Egyptian magicians. Although now that he thought about it, Percy had complained not long ago about how every time he was sure the godly bullshit had reached its maximum crazy, it exceeded his expectations. Nico had begrudgingly agreed back then because, honestly? - mood. But now the comment seemed out of hand in the middle of a particularly calm time for their camp. Except for that accident with…
“Hey, did you lot lose a giant croc with a sweet tooth for pegasi recently?”
“Well, he wasn’t ours, per se, but yes.”
“Oh…” Will pursed his lips, thinking “But… should we even be here? I know we don’t let outsiders in camp, isn’t this place protected too?”
“Against Gods, yes. Mortals? That depends. You are a kid of Apollo, right?”
Will nodded.
“Right now our worlds are just a little more intermixed than necessary. And I’m afraid with Setne out there it will keep happening.”
“Who?”
Anubis grimaced, like the name brought bad taste to his mouth, but refrained from elaborating. “Your friend Annabeth got a knife that used to be an Egyptian wand. But she can’t cross our threshold because the House of Life is the house of Soth. Bringing the descendant of a rival mirrored deity here would be just wrong. Apollo doesn’t have a mirror in Egyptian mythology. He has some elements of Ra but isn’t nearly as high in the hierarchy, and of Sekhmet, even Ihy, but not quite.”
“Oh.” Will seemed to consider that.
“Neither can the Percy boy come in because he is too dangerous and a child of what you call the Big Three.” Anubis continued “However, the underworlds always ran differently from the surface matters. We make our own laws and, since souls can’t always choose where to go or may be claimed by the wrong afterlives, we often negotiate and liaison with each other. I personally know Thanatos pretty well. For a child of Hades to be here is even quite appropriate. After all, how many of your peers can see and enter the Duat, Nico?”
Nico sighed. “Entering is one thing, I need it, but I wish I didn’t have to see it.”
“What’s the Duat?” Will looked concerned, bless his gentle heart. “Is it bad for you?”
Nico shook his head and patted Will’s hand to reassure him. Before he could pull it away, Will caught and held it, glaring in that “you didn’t answer my question” way.
“It’s fine, doc. Just my shadow travel. I try to only use the current underneath the very surface of the upper world. The Egyptians, however, occupy for their needs many other layers of the fabric of reality. And once I miscalculated, took the wrong turn, and ended up in the Norse Hel.”
Anubis grimaced. “Auch. Hela is not a sight for sore eyes.”
Nico snorted. “Never met her, but Gram almost ate me. Luckily I had some dog biscuits for Cerberus in my pocket.”
Will didn’t look reassured at all, on the contrary. Nico squeezed his fingers. Anubis’ eyes darted to their clasped hands and he smiled in a sly way that was not like Anubis at all. Nico remembered what his friend had told him once about what happened when an Egyptian god fused fully with a host. The confident stance, the sly facial expressions, the vocabulary… In a way, he was having this conversation with a complete stranger as well. That thought made him a bit uncomfortable.
“Anyway, I… I’m sorry I inconvenienced you.”
“Not at all! I mean it’s actually perfect. If these episodes of intermixing keep happening and destabilize the balance of the flow of the souls through the Duat, we might need a more permanent liaison between our worlds.”
“Didn’t Chiron get along with your Chief Lector?”
“Iskandar is dead. But I meant between Osiris and Hades.”
“Oh.” Nico exchanged an uncertain look with Will. He had planned a resolution, not more problems.
Anubis seemed to catch it. He started twirling one of his amulets around his finger. “But you didn’t call me looking for a job, did you?”
“No I…” Now his reasoning sounded ridiculous. He had been expecting Anubis to still be handing out in New Orleans cemeteries, bored out of his mind with nothing better to do but watch the funerals of strangers and comforting crying demigod kids that he found camping in the mausoleums at night. But his situation had changed spectacularly. He had broken free from his home and prison. He had found a family, was experiencing the world for what it was for the first time. “It was nothing, just stupid.”
Will kicked him under the table and stared at him pointedly. Nico hissed in return, narrowing his eyes at Solace, who grimaced humorlessly.
“Um, guys?”
“Go-on.” Will challenged from between greeted teeth. Nico kicked him back and grumbled about stupid boys under his breath. He inhaled sharply and turned to Anubis again.
“Like I said, it’s stupid, but I wanted to… to thank you.” He was met with an expression of confusion and so proceeded to elaborate. “When we met, I was 12, I had just lost everything and learned uh, stuff that I was too young to deal with. It was too much at once and I felt like the entire world was against me.”
Ne squeezed Will’s hand, who returned the gesture, supporting him. Nico inhaled and continued. “I guess learning that reality was much larger than even the rest of demigods knew, and most of it didn’t give a crap about me, and that our entire drama was not all that unique… it should have made it worse, but it actually helped. Holding secrets that were not about myself also made it easier to hold my own. And you…”
He lowered his gaze, staring pointedly at his cup of cocoa. “You taught me all about your world, and how to use the Duat for shadow travel, and how to properly communicate with the undead. And you listened to me, I could talk to you when I couldn’t turn to anyone else. And I’m so, so sorry that I left without a word. I came back after the war once but didn’t find you and then kinda… forgot, that with my father and I becoming closer, and finding my sister. I know you were lonely as well and probably wondered what happened to me, but I’ve been such an ungrateful prick and, uh-”
“Beating himself up for it.” Will supplied.
“-Wanting to say thank you and to, catch up, I guess.” Nico was sure his face was burning, but he adamantly refused to look anyone present in the eyes.
However, when a couple minutes passed and nobody spoke he raised his gaze. The god looked startled, but then smiled, in that tiny, melancholic quirk, that was more like Anubis than any mannerism or expression he’d shown yet.
“I did wonder what happened to you.” He told Nico softly. “But then Sadie dropped on my head and two days later Osiris was back. With Ma’at restored in the underworld I had my old responsibilities back and spending most of my free time helping Walt, that is, my host, with his predicament. And now we are both here and I have my best friend with me at all times and our girlfriend is a handful. I’m glad you remembered me, but don’t feel guilty, please, we’ve both been busy. I’m very happy that you called on me, however, and to see you doing so much better.”
Nico chuckled humorlessly, feeling like yet another noose on his conscience had loosened, allowing him to breathe just a little bit more freely. He relaxed against the backrest. “It got worse. So much worse, I could never even put it into words. But then it got better. And I’m working on the rest- on… myself.” He glanced reflexively to his side and Will was beaming at him with that proud grin and sparkling eyes that he got every time Nico did something right. It made his heart flutter with painful extasis in his chest. “And I have people that help me with it.”
“Neither of us is alone anymore.” Anubis conceded, still smiling. “What a nice thing to catch up to.” He raised his mug like a toast “Cheers to us!”
Nico had to admit he was right. “Cheers.”
They left Brooklyn House well past midnight, but instead of shadow traveling directly to Camp decided to take a walk along the rivershore, the cold turning their conversation into little puffs of white vapor under the streetlights.
“You got more than you’d bargained for.” Will told him as they sat down, side by side, on a bench. “All this stuff with the Greek and Egyptian worlds crossing… and Annabeth and Percy being involved. Should we be worried?”
“I don’t know” Nico admitted. “It’s never good when different mythologies come into contact, we know that by experience. I could ask my father-”
Will reached out to grab his hand. “Not now.”
Nico turned to him. “I meant one of these days. I’m not going anywhere now.”
“Good” Will nodded, and stuffed both their hands into his pocket. Even though they were both wearing gloves, Nico could feel how warm his hands were. “I’m really proud of you, for doing this today.”
Nico knew he was blushing, the butterflies in his stomach sending a pleasant tingling sensation all over his body.
“Anubis seemed happy.” He pointed out, and then, out of nowhere. “That Sadie girl is good for him.”
Will tensed up for a second, his hand twitching in Nico’s hold. He stayed quiet for a minute, his face morphing as the thoughts in his head flew by. After a while he spoke hesitantly:
“I guess it’s different because he spent his whole life only communicating with gods and his host uh, lives there so they are basically surrounded by everyone they care about and, um, are fine with everyone.”
“We don’t know that.” Nico frowned.
“I’m just saying. He seems at peace, and she probably is too. So they can afford, uh- to get sidetracked from time to time.”
“Are we still talking about Anubis?” Nico felt a lump forming in his throat, he knew the answer.
Will bit on his lip, staring pointedly at the lights of the city ahead. “I guess no, not really.”
Were they really going to talk about that now? Nico suddenly felt completely unprepared. Maybe if he changed the subject… yeah, indefinitely?
He swallowed hard, maybe it was worth it: avoid an uncomfortable conversation and just stay friends? But no, that was something the old Nico, the Nico that ran away from everything, would do. These last few months it was Will who had guided him, who pushed him to do better by himself. Will who was there every step of the way, with this infuriatingly perfect smile and his sharp sense of humor. Will who was the type of guy that meant what he said and who took every opportunity to be with Nico and casually touch him or make him laugh.
“What are we waiting for?” He squeezed it out of himself and the question came out more like a squeak thank the mature and dignified tone he was going for. He’d forgotten his hand was still within Will’s and when he clenched his fingers, Will squeezed back, but he wouldn’t meet Nico’s eyes, his cheeks so flushed Nico could barely see his freckles anymore. “Is it a doctor-patient thing? Because I never hired you!” He pushed on.
Will let out a nervous laugh. “No, well, kinda. It’s a ‘First, do no harm’ thing. I just… I really l- like you, a lot. Surely you can see that. But-”
“But?” Nico felt like he was being pulled in several directions simultaneously. On one hand he couldn't believe Will had just confessed. He liked him . And okay, Nico did see that, most of the time, but there were also enough times when he doubted it, wondered what a perfect guy like Will could ever see in a disaster like him. And now Will said that he liked him. However there also was a “but” and Nico was terrified beyond belief of that “but”.
“But you are doing so great I don’t want to hold you back.”
“How would you!?” Nico almost jumped. He didn’t understand.
“Because I don’t trust myself. Nico, I really, really like you, and I love taking care of you, and bantering with you, and I want to kiss you-” His tongue darted out to swipe over his lower lip, leaving it glistening and plump from being chewed on before. This close, his breath smelled of the cocoa he had before. It took Nico all his willpower not to either scream or jump on him. “I’ve seen it before. When couples first get together they become so engrossed in each other they shut out the rest of the world and half-ass all their responsibilities. I’m afraid I will be tempted to, uh, basically kidnap you.”
“I would be okay with that. I would be very okay with that.” Nico tried to lean towards him, his own heart beating so fast and loud he was afraid it would escape from his chest. But Will scrambled away, regretfully letting go of his hand and presenting both of his as a barrier between them. His fingers trembled but he finally met Nico’s eyes.
“This what you have been doing - confronting people from your life that you either wronged or that have wronged you, tying up loose ends , it’s so important. It’s so brave of you, and I meant it, I couldn’t be more proud. You need solid relationships in your life, with friends and family, not to only settle for me. And, and to clean your conscience. It’s only morally right for me to wait until you are ready.”
I AM READY! YOU DENSE, GORGEOUS IDIOT. Nico wanted to scream. I’VE BEEN READY SINCE I MET YOU . But even as his heart threw a tantrum, his reason was beginning to understand what Will meant.
Will at this point was so familiar, so comfortable and tempting. And he liked Nico . It would be just too easy to cling to him and drown out the cruel, cold world full of danger and regrets, to hyperfocus on that precious boy and pretend it was all he needed. But even now Nico knew that was not true. A beautiful tattoo could cover your scars and make you love your skin again, but first, the wounds had to close.
He flopped back down on the bench again and sprawled on it, eyes fixated on the murky brown sky of the city night. His breath came out in a cloud and he blinked away the tears he didn’t know he’d gathered in the corners of his eyes. Whether they were of fear or joy he could not tell.
“Persephone.” He said after several minutes of silence.
Will turned to him, confused. “What?”
“Persephone. She hates me so I don’t think we will ever get along, but I’m sick of her snapping and nagging every time I visit the underworld. I want to have a good talk with her, try to find a civil middle ground. It’s not my fault dad couldn’t keep it in his pants. And well, her bark is worse than her bite, so I don’t think she would ever go for Hazel, she is not like Hera, but I want to eliminate the possibility. I can’t be worrying about that indefinitely.”
Will smiled. “You are a good brother.”
Nicko winced. “Well, now that we are at this topic: Thalia Grace. We parted in a really weird way and I still don’t like The Hunters of Artemis, or trust them, but Bianca made her own choice. So did Thalia, and we are the fucking Big Three kids, which means we have to put up with exponential amount of bullshit, like you wouldn't believe. I think we should get along, rather than… I don’t even know, act like our parents do. I guess I want to make sure we are good.”
“Alright.”
“And coach Hedge. When I talked to Grover Underwood-” and hadn’t that been all kinds of awkward? “-he told me Hedge was back in Cali. I want to go visit him and his wife. I want to see their kid and thank him for everything he did for me on that journey with the Athena Parthenos.”
“Anyone else?”
Nico blew a hair strand out of his eye. “Nope, that’s it. The end of my list. Everything else is my own baggage, if you get what I mean. I hope you don’t expect me to fix that too before getting together because there are not enough years in the calendar for that.”
“No.” Will beamed at him. “I lo -o like you, baggage and all. Gods know I’m not without my own. But there’s nothing preventing us from working on that while I keep you kidnapped in my evil lair for a while.”
Nico laughed. His heart felt light as a feather and despite the cold of the night he was warm and more comfortable than he’d ever remembered being. “You would make a terrible dragon.”
“Well, I think you would look just lovely as a princess. Maybe a fluffy pink dress and a tiara?”
“Shut up, Solace. Is that, like, a thing for you?”
Will looked outraged, then puffed out his cheeks, which was just adorable. “I’m leaving tomorrow for the Underworld.” Nico said more seriously. I don’t think it’s a good idea to take you there but do you want to come with me to California to see the Couch?
“Obviously!”
“And I guess locating the Hunters will take a while, but I can call in a couple of favors for that. Are you sure we can’t kiss until then?”
Will seemed to consider it, then, completely out of the blue, he leaned in and delivered a light peck to Nico’s cheek.”
“Only this. To encourage you.”
“Tease.”